Street Dim Sums in Shanghai-Shaomai

This is Shanghai people’s typical breakfast-Shaomai. Don’t ask me if it tastes good because I am so familiar with it that I can’t judge it correctly.It is like someone is asking you if bacon and scrambled eggs taste good. How would you answer him? Isn’t it good? Yes, it’s not bad…umm…but I just don’t have so much feeling for it since I eat it so frequently.

We eat Shaomai so frequently that we lose our feelings about it, but to be fair, it tastes not too bad.

The stuffing of Shanghai Shaomai is made of sticky rice, pork and mushroom; the surface is made of flour. However, Shaomai in other places are totally different. I know people in Guangdong use shrimp, crab and pork to make the stuffing and use eggs to do the surface. We can see the pictures of Shanghai Shaomai and Guangdong Shaomai as a comparison.

If we want to make Shanghai Shaomai, firstly we should steam the sticky rice.
Then add green onion and salt to the pork and pan-fry all of it.


The mushrooms should be pan-fried too.

When the mushrooms are almost ready, put the cooked sticky rice and pork in the pot and pan-fry everything together. Remember to season it in the end.

Next, wait for everything to cool down and roll them into little balls.

Finally use the skin made of flour (I think it is same as dumpling's surface) to pack the rolls and steam it for 5 minutes.

Maybe you are confused why I call Shaomai “Dim Sum” since I already said it is a kind of breakfast. Actually in China, Dim Sum and breakfast can be the same thing in some extent. People like to eat soymilk, Xiaolong, Shengjian, Baojiaobu, Tofu pudding for breakfast but they will also eat them during daytime whenever they want. For me, I like to buy a Shaomai at noontime and eat it in afternoon when I am hungry.